HCM City (VNA) - Electronic goods shops and supermarkets inHCM City are offering big promotions on air conditioners, refrigerators andfans as the hot season approaches.
Shops and supermarkets in HCM usually offer discounts of only 10 or 15 percent,but as the peak hot season is near, they are now discounting fans and airconditioners by 15 to 50 percent and offering free delivery and installation,as well as a zero percent interest rate on installment payments.
A survey conducted at a number of large electronics stores such as Nguyen Kimand Thien Hoa found that demand for air conditioners and fans had skyrocketedwith the onset of summer.
Nguyen Trong Tuan, a representative of Nguyen Kim Electronic Appliance Centre,said the sales of air conditioners, refrigerators, fruit juicers and blendershad increased significantly compared to the same period last year.
Sales are expected to continue as the heat wave is predicted to reach its peakin a few weeks, he said. This is the best time to buy before prices rise duringthe hot season.
The Southern Hydro-Meteorology Station said that hot temperatures had arrivedearlier than usual, with average temperatures in the city and southeasternregion from March to May expected to be 0.5-1 degrees Celsius higher than thesame period last year.
Tran Nguyen Anh Tu, sales clerk at Thien Hoa Electronics Centre, said sales offans and air conditioners had shot up by 50 percent compared to earlier lastmonth, and were 25 percent higher than the same period last year.
The most popular products include energy-savings technology such aswater-misting fans, air conditioning, automatic refrigerators, and inverter airconditioners with timers and touch control.
Small electronic shops also report higher sales of cooling products. A shopowner on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in District 3 said sales of fans, airconditioners, fruit juicers and blenders at her shop had risen significantly.
Demand is expected to continue to rise in the coming months, with sales predictedto go up by 25-30 percent, she said.
Traders said that fans from companies KDK, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Asia arepriced from 300,000 VND (13.45 USD) to 1 million VND for low-end products andup to 3 million VND for high-end products.
Customers are increasingly paying more attention to product quality anddurability, and prefer to buy energy-efficient air conditioners, according toshop owners.
The most popular are 1-1.5 HP air conditioners from Toshiba, Daikin, LG,Panasonic and Reetech, with prices between 8 million VND and 12 million VND.
With the hot and dry season expected to be more severe this year, electronicshops foresee strong sales of cooling products. – VNA